Today I helped serve at a beautiful wedding for some lovely friends that was almost completely ruined by Urban Chef. I'm at a loss for words at how unprofessional Rachel and her partner were/are and to be frank, I can't believe they've stayed in business this long. The stress that they put on all of the coordinators, vendors, guests, family and most importantly, the bride and groom prior to the event and during the event was disheartening at best. Where to begin... As the time ticked towards the start of the wedding, there was no sign of Rachel or her team. Multiple panicked phone calls were made over a 3 hour time span to her, none of which she responded to. We all figured she was going to be a no-show so we started gathering volunteers to make Costco runs so that there would be some sort of food to eat. When she finally answered, she rattled off excuse after excuse as to why she was not there yet, none of which seemed the least bit legit (including "the sim card in my phone broke"). But she assured us that she was on her way and would be there soon. An HOUR LATER, she finally arrived (about 10 minutes BEFORE dinner was to begin). She showed up solo with minimal decorations and zero food. Food ended up arriving in a different vehicle much later which just added more stress on an already stressful situation. Now you would think that the food would be prepped prior to the wedding. Nope... fruit was not sliced and items were missing. One guest even had to go and buy salad dressing and syrup because she forgot that, as well. At this point, the guests were getting slightly impatient and hangry. Since the dining room was rapidly being decorated by volunteers (doing the job of the catering company), the guests had to wait outside in the scorching sun for an absorbent amount of time until it was done. Because of the time crunch for the venue curfew, we had to go ahead with the toasts and first dance outside on a patch of dirt. The couple and the guests made the most of it, but as a fellow vendor, I thought it was embarrassing that it had come to that point. The food was mediocre at best. The salad was a pile of kale with light dressing and as I was taking a bite, I noticed a fleck of aluminum foil in the kale leafs. The waffles were cold and she ran out of bacon, too. The buffet looked unpresentable, which of course was no surprise given the lack of effort in preparation. Honestly, it looked and tasted like high school cafeteria food. We all made the most of the situation and ended up having a great time by the end (thanks to really good music and a delightful couple). But Urban Chef was a catastrophe and an embarrassment. It doesn't surprise me from the other Yelp reviews that say she has been in small claims court with past and current customers. She's running a shady business, teetering on a scam. As a vendor myself, I have worked plenty of events and weddings with fantastic catering companies who care about who they are serving. Urban Chef is not one of them. read more

Rachel was my caterer for my wedding on 4/23/17. She is very nice, creative and was helpful with suggestions for our upcoming day. I really appreciated her input and ideas. I really like Rachel. I hate that I have to give 2 stars about our experience with The Urban Chef. When we put our $1000 deposit down in the end of December for our wedding, we were very excited as our tasting we had just had with Rachel was exceptional and we found her knowledge great and prices very reasonable. A couple days later I received an additional charge for $645 on my credit card. I could not get ahold of Rachel or her assistant Alicia for a whole week about this charge. When I finally heard back I was informed that it was a mistake and was supposed to be for another event and a promise to get my money returned to me. I never received that money back, so about a month a half away from the wedding we just agreed to put it toward my final bill. There were also some problems with the final bill as after I had paid our final bill a week before the event, I was informed that they had not charged me enough for the rentals they had so I would have to pay again. This all happened the day before my wedding. The day of the wedding, the food was good but multiple family and friends have informed me (after my wedding) that the bartender was rude. Rachel had to have the bartender come and apologize to my dad for making an inappropriate joke to him that night. My father-in-law had also bought us a nice bottle of champagne for our toast and was reassured that they had served my spouse and I the champagne for our toast. That did not happen, they had served us the champagne everyone else had. They also missed giving 2 whole tables champagne for our toast. If there are no problems that come up for your event, you should be fine with the Urban Chef. But getting in communication when there is an urgent problem that needs to be resolved was practically impossible. I would also recommend working on professionalism with some of the serving staff. read more

BUYER BEWARE! Urban Chef was the WORST caterer I have EVER seen! I am an Event Manager by trade, so I'm sure you can understand that I know what the standards of a good event are. It looks like Rob. G's review would be very similar to mine, so I won't drag out the details but to summarize...The cater was 3-4 hours late, was missing food items that were supposed to be on the menu, food was under cooked or cold, didn't have enough food, presentation was despicable or non-existing, was making lame excuses...Even after multiple meetings with the bride and groom, she still did not fulfill any of the details that were agreed upon. She had only one other staff member, who showed up even later than her. The guests were setting up and helping her prepare and serve food (so they were doing her job for her). So many details were missed in the chaotic shuffle, like the wedding favors being placed on the tables. We ran out of time in the venue because we wasted so much time outside in the heat WAITING FOR HER. She hurriedly took plates away from tables and then disappeared into the woods to "smoke cigarettes." She asked for full payment in advance. You can see from her other reviews on multiple websites (like theknot.com or weddingwire) that she asks for money up front and then doesn't refund her clients after she completely screws up the event. All of her recent clients who have been hustled should get together to sue her. Maybe at one time she was good, but she has fallen off the wagon. I'm sure soon enough, folks will catch on to these recent reviews and just stop hiring her, but there needs to be legal action to stop this woman from ruining people's special wedding day. Her behavior and work ethic was ridiculous. DO NOT HIRE URBAN CHEF! read more

My review if I were to go into details... would be very similar to Allison of Renton's below. Had high hopes and a good tasting. Ultimately, there was a lack of contracted catering services, menu items and event details delivered. Still awaiting our compensation that was awarded via Small Claims Court in Burien. Big picture, there was a wonderful wedding and special family day with the lesson learned to use a caterer that someone we know has used and been happy with :) read more

We booked Rachel for our wedding on June 17th, 2017 and this was by far the worst decision we made for our wedding. 1. Rachel double booked us and never even showed up to our wedding due to "car troubles". I now see another person who left a review with the same wedding date- and Rachel got there at 5:15pm but was supposed to be there much earlier, our contract stated that Rachel was supposed to be at our wedding from 11AM-8PM. 2. Rachel consistently had terrible communication from the moment we paid her our $1K deposit. It took me multiple follow-up emails for her to respond to a simple email in the 6 months leading to our wedding. 3. Immediately after we paid our $1K deposit and gave her our credit card information, that same and only that credit card had fraudulent charges made. I asked Rachel about this and she told me her email was "hacked" and someone stole our credit card info. 4. I say this again, but Rachel never even showed up on our wedding day and our friend had to miss the ceremony in hopes that her staff would arrive before cocktail hour needed to start. She told us we would have 5 staff on our wedding day plus herself, in reality, 2 staff showed up 2 hours late. My day of coordinator called the staff numerous times during that time span and repeatedly he was told that they were 10 minutes late and when he called Rachel, she continuously rejected his calls. 5. There was not enough food. We paid for 5 hors d'oeuvres and actually only had 2. Our guests had to have very small servings and we paid for side dishes that never appeared. The only positive is that our guests said the food they did get to eat tasted good. 6. Finally, after the wedding I waited one week for her to reach out to apologize for the mess she created. She never reached out. I had to contact her multiple times until I got a response, she told me she would follow up with my email requesting a refund and never responded until I (4 weeks later) filed a dispute with my credit card company- then she told me she was in the hospital and that's why she hadn't responded. To recap if you've made it this far- -If you have your $1k deposit already down and if you have the means, I would absolutely walk away from that deposit and hire a new caterer. Rachel was the single highest stressor of our wedding and we wish we had never booked her. I contemplated walking away from the deposit several times leading up to the wedding and wish I had. -If you have Rachel booked for an upcoming wedding: 1. refuse to pay the rest of your bill until the services are produced due to all of the negative reviews on her page (when I told her about all the negative reviews I've been seeing, she denied them all and blamed her staff for any poor reviews) 2. pay the rest of your bill with a credit card and they will dispute the charge if you can back it up with some evidence. We printed out our contract and pointed out everything that was not produced and Chase did all of the work for us. Rachel did not even file a rebuttal. 3. Have a Plan B for food 4. Give Rachel as few responsibilities as possible, do not let her set up or decorate. Besides food, we only gave her the bar to set up and that was not done. In fact, her staff broke the only cork screw they brought so our guests had to push all of the corks in to get to the wine. Do NOT book the Urban Chef. read more

Each year our non-profit organizes a lavish Autumn Cocktail Party. The success of this fundraiser is essential to our annual operations. This year (due to party budget constraints) we decided to go with a new caterer. We ended up choosing The Urban Chef, and we were wowed by the results!! We had never worked with Chef Rachel previously, but found her both professional and fun to work with. She took our needs and requests into account and turned out a seamless Mediterranean inspired finger-food buffet, for over 125 guests. We had many compliments on the food. Several attendees were pleased to find that variety of food allowed for all manner of restricted diets and/or palates. All in all an easy and delicious experience. I'm not a usual Yelper, but only moments ago heard another rave about the menu (3 weeks past the event)! Lucky us! Our event was a smashing success. We plan to use The Urban Chef again and again! read more

What can we say about our experience with Urban Chef. It was awesome! Rachel met with us about a month before our wedding to finalize a year long plan and she made me feel so relaxed and confidant that our whole wedding would come together! And it did! Rachel and her staff worked well with our team of family and friends for set up and the food was amazing! Our guests raved about the pork chops and the root veggie lasagna. We had several unexpected guest and were well over our original count and Rachel didn't sweat it at all. There was more than enough food and she and her staff even washed dishes at the venue to accommodate. We loved Rachel and her team! They were an integral part of making our day perfect! read more

Rachel catered our wedding of 150 and was amazing throughout the planning process. She offered suggestions and creatively dealt with problems that arose. She has connections with a party rental company and figured all that stuff out for us (chairs, linens, LIGHTS, etc) at a very reasonable price. When people were having trouble putting the lights up, she came in herself a few days beforehand to personally install them. For the actual wedding, she brought a really wonderful team of bartenders and servers with her. Problems arose during the wedding that I had no idea about (until I was told later) because she was so on top of everything. One last thing I really appreciated -- she didn't immediately say "yes" to anything we suggested. We were totally clueless about this whole thing and she wasn't afraid to tell us what she thought would and wouldn't work. I would completely recommend Rachel and her team to anyone with catering needs! read more

First off, I had the the pleasure of having The Urban Chef - Rachel Huckins cater my Amazing Wedding. To say amazing after all of the hiccups along because of the wedding VENUE owner, I quickly became a stressed out frazzled Bride. - wondering how I will find someone who also see my vision. - So I took the plunge via Thumbtack to search for ALL outside vendors required for my big day. Rachel came in a swept me off my feet, allowing my vision to come to life. Rachel tailored a custom menu for our wedding. It turned out so so Great! We had many compliments. Rachel is more than just a caterer. She can be your event coordinator helping you fine tune your event. The catering business is not easy. She also allowed for us to stay on budget and truly does her best with the peeps she has on hand that day. Point here Rachel Rocks the menu! People don't realize the inconsistency with each venue and rules are always different from place to place, but I can assure you. Rachel will take care of you and provide you with an original menu that is not only eye catching in presentation, but very TASTY!!! I have had the pleasure of working a few events with Rachel, and I know that she gives every client her all - and truly enjoys making her client events memorable. Thank you Rachel from the bottom of our hearts. I would have been lost without you! Love, Tarah Frederick read more

We hired the Urban Chef for our wedding on June 17th, 2017. We met with Rachel the Sunday before our wedding to give her all of our decorations and wine. We were not prepared to pay that day, so we paid through PayPal. After a series of anxiety ridden texts, she followed up to get an extra $1,000 from my husband because PayPal wasn't going through quick enough. Urban Chef has yet to refund us the extra $1,000 and will not respond to calls or texts. On the day of our wedding, she was supposed to come early to set up all the decorations. Our ceremony was supposed to start at 5:00 pm. The Urban Chef catering team didn't show up until about 5:15 pm, so none of our decorations went up until after the wedding. The food tasted good but we had comments from wedding guests saying the bacon wasn't cooked through and there were plastic covered snack bars that looked like they came from 7-11. They also ran out of some of the food dishes. We paid for food for 130 people and there was a maximum of 120 there. Buyer beware. read more

Rachel is a phenomenal chef and a creative coordinator. I hired her to cater my wedding reception, which happened to be mostly vegan / some vegetarian and gluten free. She was more than willing to accommodate, and her food was delicious. I found her through Thumbtack, so I wasn't 100% sure what to expect until we talked on the phone the first time. She was so conscientious that everything be just right for my wedding, and she pulled it all together and made it a lovely time. I had about 40 guests, and I heard so many raves about the food. I provided some drinks and the dessert, but she managed everything else. She even assembled a champagne punch that I'd prepared the ingredients for but didn't have time to put together right before the wedding. She made it just perfect. She brought with her a decor sensibility that was right up my alley, too, though I knew she'd be flexible if I liked a different style. But hers was perfect. The presentation on the food and drink tables was beautiful. We did a few phone consultations, a number of emails, an on-site tasting where she brought some food to my venue so she could get the lay of the land and we could taste some food, and then the day-of set up, serve, and tear down. She was always pleasant and easy to talk to. Despite my venue being so far from where her kitchen is, she got everything there, warm and delicious. And always with a smile on her face. Her servers/assistants were great, too. I'd recommend her to anyone! read more

I was helping my daughter plan a party for thirty-five individuals for her boyfriend's 40th Birthday Party. She wanted a venue with a view and needed tables, drapes, piping, food, bar, etc. I spent one week looking for someplace in the Kirkland, Bellevue or Seattle area that would be able to supply what my daughter's needs were and could not find anything for under 8 to 10 thousand dollars. Finally we realize that they already had the perfect venue which was one of the floor's in their office building which their company owned with a beautiful view of Lake Washington. My daughter actually was the one who sent me the link to the Urban Chef and wanted me to check it out. After talking to Rachel and finding out that she worked closely with someone who could supply all the extra party materials like the piping and draping and the red carpet I was excited because I didn't want to have to spend time trying to coordinate everything. I found Rachel to be both willing to work with us on a specific menu catering to the likes of my daughter's boyfriend and the food was fabulous. Her displays were really well done and creative and her work ethic was unbelievable. The place looked beautiful and she was an expert at clearing tables and keeping everything stocked without being in anyone's way. She is not invisible because she is a very pretty woman but she is not intrusive and moves quickly and quietly. Her staff were very hard workers and complemented the evening by also moving quickly and quietly. One of the things I liked best about working with Rachel was not just that she supplied the best price for an amazing tasting menu but that I got the feeling she really wanted the experience to be perfect. She ended up coming up with little things, without charging us at the end, that she thought added to the overall look of the venue. To me, this means that she is interested in doing the best job she can and making sure the experience is uniquely special! read more

Our holiday party was excruciatingly disappointing. The venue wasn't checked prior to the event and it snowed that morning. We called early and Rachel told us her GPS indicated her ETA was 10 minutes. One assistant arrived 30 minutes later saying Rachel was "on the way" but she had no supplies and wasn't able to begin set-up. We repeatedly called but Rachel did not pick up her phone and voicemail was full. Being unfamiliar with the venue, Rachel had difficulty finding the entrance and arrived as our event was scheduled to start with most of the guests already there. We only scheduled the venue until 1 pm, resulting in limited opportunity to eat and mingle. By the time dessert was set out, it was time to leave. Had she let us know how late she was going to be, we could have delayed the arrival of our teams and tried to negotiate the room for additional time. Below is the breakdown of why we rated this so low: - Late arrival with no contact, eliminating our opportunity to manage on our end - Arriving with insufficient equipment for the event which could have been managed by a site visit - Dirty dishes/dispensers/service wear - the first person to get hot water received a "bloom" of something left over from a previous event - Did not provide several options of food/beverages listed on the contract but did include a meatball with hair in it - Items were not labelled so individuals with allergies (specifically listed on the contract) were unable to eat - Food was cold, insufficient with some not thoroughly cooked. It took so long for food to come out, many people left hungry and unhappy Our event was early December 2016. Due to weather and various issues that Rachel later described, I wanted to offer an opportunity to "make it right." While we can't supply a recommendation, we could have posted a neutral review with positive feedback for corrective action. Sadly, she continues to avoid resolution though we have offered easy and flexible solutions via 15 various voice/email. As we are again looking for a caterer, I was reminded of what a terrible experience this was and when I was searching Yelp, I noticed that Rachel is still up to her same antics. Let the buyer beware. read more